“The entire family-law system is unconstitutional,” Newdow told
SN&R. “It deprives people of their rights to their relationships
with their children.”

In 2005, 2006 and 2007 Newdow informed the speaker of the Assembly of
his intent to file suit under California Code of Civil Procedure
Section 526(a), which allows taxpayers to file grievances against
government waste.

“You waste incredible amounts of money,” said Newdow. “People spend
millions of dollars—literally—on individual cases that should be going
towards the family.”

The federal government’s latest attempt to bring western family law
principles to native reserves is once again attracting controversy.

The family homes on reserves and matrimonial interests or rights act is
the federal government’s fourth attempt to address the vacuum that
exists in matrimonial property laws in aboriginal communities.

The
standing committee on the status of women has just referred the bill
back to Parliament without amendment despite hearing a litany of
concerns about the process and the lack of consultation and
non-legislative measures and support.

Researchers in the increasingly
influential field known as fetal origins—the study of how fetal
conditions affect long-term health—have to be pretty creative. Running
controlled experiments on pregnant women is, after all, verboten. Still,
scientists have made exciting finds in recent years by cleverly drawing
on data from dramatic, naturally occurring “experiments.” By seeing
what happens to fetuses when an entire population is exposed to, say,
fasting, or mourning, or smog—conditions that would be deemed unethical
if they were devised in a lab—we are gaining insights into how life
before birth shapes life long afterward.

While several new health studies health studies
concerning breastfeeding are making the rounds, the topic has also been
generating headlines in the employment law context, thanks to a recent
Fifth Circuit ruling (as reported in Texas Lawyer's Tex Parte Blog) involving the firing of a woman because she wanted to use a breast pump at work.

According to the opinion,
when Donnicia Venters spoke to her boss at Houston Funding about using a
breast pump at work upon her return from maternity leave, her request
was met with a long pause, then the news that her position had been
filled. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought a Title VII
action against Houston Funding, alleging the company had discriminated
against Venters based upon her sex.

For 75 years, Finland’s expectant mothers have
been given a box by the state. It’s like a starter kit of clothes,
sheets and toys that can even be used as a bed. And some say it helped
Finland achieve one of the world’s lowest infant mortality rates.

It’s a tradition that dates back to the 1930s and it’s designed to
give all children in Finland, no matter what background they’re from, an
equal start in life.

The maternity package – a gift from the government – is available to all expectant mothers.